Marquees in the time of coronavirus: Shuttered movie theaters use signs to inspire safety, kindness and laughter

The North Park Theatre sports an encouraging sign in Buffalo, N.Y., on March 31, 2020. (Photo: Libby March for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Among the industries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic is film exhibition. From megaplexes to arthouses, movie theaters have been forced to close across all 50 states due to government-mandated (and frankly, common sense-driven) restrictions to enforce social distancing in public spaces and venues.

Things are so grim in the movie-screening business that according to Deadline, only 14 movie theaters remained open as of this past weekend, nearly all of them drive-ins, some of which have since closed. Weekend box-office grosses haven't topped $4,000 the past three weekends. By comparison, theaters brought in more than $100 million total the first weekend of March, and $182 million over Valentine's weekend.

Still, the movie theaters of America are offering the scant passerbys some of the most inspiring (and amusing) messages during these difficult, strange times in a manner that Netflix and Amazon can't duplicate: via their good old-fashioned marquees.

The messages are being received, with dozens of images being shared to social media over the past few weeks. Below are some of the best we've seen.

"We will get through this together but apart," reads the marquee for Royal Cinemas, which looks over a deserted Main St. in Front Royal, Va.

The Emmaus Theater in Emmaus, Pa., takes a more comical approach to social distancing, referencing a certain 1986 coming of age classic.

The Sunray Cinema in Jacksonville, Fla., captures the surrealism of what it feels like to go outside when everyone is wearing masks and gloves.

Love this photo: h/t FestForums Livestream, which will be next Wednesday April 15 on Facebook @FestForums at noon PST/3 EST, with insights from experts in the live events space during the COVID-19 crisis. pic.twitter.com/uNKUgn2xbF

Amblin Entertainment, the Steven Spielberg-founded production studio behind the 1985 classic Back to the Future, shared this image of one especially prescient Doc Brown quote from the Kiggins Theatre in Vancouver, Wash.

Finally, though, our MVP movie marquee in the time of coronavirus belongs to the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Pa., which has been cycling through various punny movie titles related to our new reality. (They're also apparently making it a communal exercise, with a marquee title contest to submit titles. Yes, of course we entered some.)